


tear-free shampoo

by spirallings



Series: bokuaka week 2020 [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: BokuAka Week, BokuAka Week 2020, Dogs, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Time Skip, Schmoop, They get a dog, They're engaged, adopt don't shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25662544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spirallings/pseuds/spirallings
Summary: Bokuto Koutarou has a big heart with love always prepared to spill over: especially for abandoned puppies hiding from the rain underneath a dumpster. Keiji should've figured that this would be how they impulsively become dog parents.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Series: bokuaka week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1856602
Comments: 10
Kudos: 78
Collections: BokuAka Week, Bokuaka Week 2020, My favorite haikyuu fics





	tear-free shampoo

**Author's Note:**

> this is another piece that was inspired by @/ickypea on twitter and a long discourse with a friend, gray, on the concept of how bokuaka would acquire themselves a dog, whilst also combining day 2 and day 3
> 
> give @ickypea some love, their dog dad au and comics are so PRECIOUS
> 
> _day 2 and 3: roommates/living together + future_

The odd smell drew Keiji’s attention first. Then, it was the rather large, and strangely shaped lump in Koutarou’s jacket that was moving around and wriggling. Then, there was the soft whining sound.

Then there was the look on his fiancé’s face.

One of pure guilt.

“I can explain, please don’t be mad Keiji—“

“ _What did you do, Koutarou._ ”

“Nothing **_bad_**!” He wailed, the lump in his jacket wriggling around more and something black poking out of the collar. It didn’t take long for Keiji to figure out what exactly Koutarou was hiding in his jacket, currently soaked from the rain outside, with his hair flat against his forehead.

At the widening of Keiji’s eyes, Koutarou scrambled to pull the zipper down with one hand. “I couldn’t just leave her out there, it’s so rainy outside Keiji—!”

Out from between the open zipper of Koutarou’s jacket, a dark-furred, fluffy and very soaked face of an Akita mix puppy whined pathetically at Keiji. Equally dark brown eyes seemed just as wet as its fur and Keiji could see that the puppy was shivering in Koutarou’s hold. It was still early spring, the air was bitingly cold and it’d been raining all week. The puppy didn’t look to be more than three months old, if that. 

Koutarou bit his lip, looking up from the puppy to Keiji’s dumbstruck face.

“She was hiding under a garbage bin from the rain,” he pleaded. “She looked so scared, I couldn’t leave her out there. **_Please_** , Keiji..”

The puppy’s whimpering grew louder and Keiji let out a heavy sigh, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. He thought fast. He looked up, face set.

“She’s going to need a bath in case she’s got any ticks or fleas. Start the sink, please. Make sure it’s warm, but not too hot. I’m going to call the vet to see if I can book an appointment in the morning.”

He didn’t have to look to know how Koutarou’s face lit up instantly. He could hear it in the quick motion of Koutarou kicking off his shoes at the front door, shucking off his jacket to the kitchen floor and putting a very nervous puppy in the sink once it was clear of the dishes. Keiji could hear the sound of rushing water and the puppy’s loud whimpering and crying as he made an appointment for the next morning. He could also hear Koutarou talking to her as he gently sprayed her with the warm water, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s gonna be okayyyy. Me ’n Keiji are gonna take good care of you! He might seem mean and a bit scary on the surface but that’s just his resting face. My Keiji is so so _nice_ —“

After a few moments of whimpering, the noises stopped and Keiji could feel his heart swell, so much that he was willing to take the indirect insult to his neutral resting face slide. He joined his fiancé in the kitchen as soon as he ended the call, bringing with him shampoo. “Try not to let get it in her eyes, Kou,” he murmured. “It’s the best we have, but it’s not tear-free.”

Keiji promptly rolled up his sleeves and Koutarou shed his soaked through shirt as they worked together to give the puppy a proper deep clean bath. It was a good decision, because she was filthy: dirt and grime fell off of her thick fur, dark brown spots fading to a lighter brown, revealing her white chest and white socked paws. Her nerves seemed to fade from how gentle they were being, Keiji occasionally murmuring, _be gentle, Kou_ , even though he didn’t have to; Koutarou rubbed the shampoo onto the puppy’s body as if she were made of glass, worried about mishandling his strength. There was nothing he needed to worry about. When Keiji washed behind her ears and carefully wiped her eyes, Koutarou stood back with a soft grin at how gentle the other man was: each and every touch was done with care as to not startle or scare her.

His fiancé had always had such beautiful hands, using them with care, every stroke and use of his fingers done with precision and thought. When Koutarou wasn’t reminded of an owl, he was reminded of a cat by how graceful Keiji could be.

They’d never entirely discussed pets. It’d been something they were both considering, certainly, and Koutarou definitely wanted a dog in the future, having grown up with several as a kid. Keiji’s family didn’t have pets beyond some fish, so Keiji didn’t seem to have a stance either way except perhaps a distant thought.

“Can you grab some towels for me and dry her off, Kou? She’s done.”

“Got it,” Koutarou grinned.

Akaashi Keiji might’ve seemed like more of a cat person just based on looks and mannerisms alone, but Koutarou did not miss how he gently rubbed his thumb across the puppy’s jawline, the pup leaning into his touch happily.

Nor did the miss the little smile his beloved gave the puppy.

While Koutarou grabbed some towels and sat down on the floor to dry the now very clean puppy up, Keiji moved about the apartment to do some makeshift puppy gating around the kitchen; leaving newspapers, magazines, and anything else from work that he didn’t need to serve as accident-proofing their kitchen over night, putting out a bowl for water and food, putting down old blankets for her to sleep on for the night. Koutarou continued to chat at the puppy as he rubbed her ears dry, the puppy closing her eyes and leaning her head back as she enjoyed the attention.

“There! All done!” Koutarou threw his arms up, tossing the towels back, and the newly dried puppy wriggled into his lap, her front paws on his sternum as her curled tail wagged. Heart melting, Koutarou cooed at her and picked her up high in the air before bringing her back down to nuzzle against her face.

When she licked his face, Koutarou gasped, eyes wide and watery. 

“Keiiiijiiii!” He wailed. “She loves me!”

“I can tell, Koutarou,” said Keiji, mouth quirking into a smile as he drained and cleaned up the sink. “She’s also probably hungry. She looks old enough for solids, it seems. We should feed her and then eat dinner ourselves.”

Carrying the puppy underneath his arm, his palm large enough to carry her by one hand, Koutarou went to their fridge to raid for anything that was puppy friendly. With his other hand, he did a quick Google search to see what was safe. Keiji gently chided him fir leaving the fridge open for too long until Koutarou finally found some ground beef that hadn’t been cooked or seasoned. He seemed loathe to put her down, so Keiji got started on cooking the beef just enough for the puppy to eat, letting it cool so that it didn’t hurt her tongue.

One half an hour and a classic diving receive on Keiji’s part to put newspaper underneath the puppy when she did her business in the middle of the kitchen floor later, she was fed, tonjiru was eaten for dinner and all parties involved were exhausted. They found themselves lounging on the couch, Keiji with a book in hand and tea on the coffee table, and Koutarou’s head in his lap. The puppy was on his chest, asleep and content. Koutarou kept rubbing the back of her ears and tracing her back with his fingers. She looked so small against his chest while she curled into a fluffy little ball, fully trusting him. The sight made Keiji’s heart tighten and swell. 

The passing thought of a young child or a baby being in the same position on Koutarou’s chest raced through Keiji’s mind briefly until Koutarou tilted his head back far enough to look up at his fiancé.

“What should we name her, ‘Ji?”

Keiji pursed his lips. Lowering his book, he ran his fingers through Koutarou’s bangs. “We don’t know if she doesn’t already have owners, Koutarou. We shouldn’t name her just yet.”

“I don’t know how anyone could just— _leave_ a dog outside like that, especially a puppy,” Koutarou muttered, his tone darkening as he glared at the ceiling, remembering how scared she was before he picked her up. How long he kneeled in front of her and held out a little piece of jerky in front of her to get him to trust him enough to let Koutarou touch her. “They don’t deserve to have her back.”

“I agree,” said Keiji, a note of heat to his voice that only Koutarou would’ve been able to pick up. The mere thought had to make Keiji angry, too. “We just have to make sure that she doesn’t belong to anyone yet, collar or no collar. I’d hate to have to get into a legal battle about ownership and custody.”

He said it so nonchalantly that Koutarou would’ve missed the implication if he didn’t know Keiji so well by now. Unlike most people, whose subtleties and hidden motives went over his head because Koutarou didn’t see why people had to hide anything at all, Keiji could be evasive and quiet about his intentions, but never actively hid them. His expression brightened with realization.

“We’ll pick a name for her when we leave the vet.”

Keiji leaned down to kiss his forehead, lips lingering. Unsatisfied with just that, Koutarou sat up just enough to give his fiancé a proper kiss, a free hand curled around the back of Keiji’s neck.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, Kou,” Keiji murmured against his lips.

Like so many things about their relationship, it all fell together seamlessly. Koutarou knew that there wouldn’t be any argument about the puppy come tomorrow, no matter the outcome. He’d seen how gently Keiji had scratched underneath the puppy’s chin when she nosed against his shin while he was cooking dinner, looking up at him with such wide dark brown eyes. How he’d been so diligent in setting up the kitchen as if he were planning it for more than one night only.

Keiji was already half-in love with the puppy, he could tell. There was no arguing that. 

But there was **one** small sticking point.

“No, Kou,” said Keiji, stern. “ _No dogs on the bed_. She has a bed set up in the kitchen for a **reason**.”

“ _But Keijiiiii_ —“

“I said ‘ ** _No_**.’”

It took less than hour for the endless whimpering to start. Corralled in a part of the kitchen where a makeshift gate was made, the puppy could be heard whimpering and fussing. It was a miracle that their neighbors hadn’t already come to knock on their door to demand that they keep the noise down. Somehow, Koutarou managed to stay asleep during that hour, although he’d always been such a heavy sleeper; he had to be exhausted from practice. He missed the sharp exhale of defeat, the shuffling of a body out of his arms (making his own face scrunch in disappointment), the whimpers coming to a stop soon after, and then soft footsteps entering the room again.

A whispered, “ _Please_ don’t pee on the bed.”

A little _whuff_.

Tiny paws pacing around the mattress to find a place to settle before lowering down. 

The shuffle of blankets and then another warm body pressing to his own. Koutarou’s arm immediately wrapped around his fiancé’s body, drawing him closer. Another half an hour passed before another smaller body wriggled its way in between them, settling against both of their stomachs.

When Koutarou woke up the next morning, it was to the sight of Keiji on his side, still asleep, with the puppy curled against his chest. Both were snoring softly, Keiji’s arm gently curled around the puppy’s back. His other hand was cupped around her head. 

Unable to fight the grin on his face, Koutarou quietly grabbed his phone on the night stand and took a picture. And then took several more.

One visit to the vet later that afternoon where she was identified as a stray with no microchip, checked for worms, given proper shots for her age and given flea medication, and then a much longer trek to the pet store to pick up a crate, dog food, toys and treats, they brought her back home.

They named her Koko. 

**Author's Note:**

> silly keiji, you have to put the crate in the same room you sleep in or give it something that smells like you; makes the pup feel more at ease! first dog owner mistakes and all (yes i've been there. twice. the second time was easier). here's how i visualize [koko!](https://www.101dogbreeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Akita-Shepherd-Puppy.jpg)
> 
> my dogs are back in illinois with my family and i haven't seen them since march. i miss them a lot and bc of the fuckin plague idk when it'll be safe for me to see them again :( this is partially my love letter to them. adopt don't shop.
> 
> happy bokuaka week they're the only thing keeping me alive these days


End file.
